Blue Jackets notebook: Sean Collins happy to be here and in Springfield

Thursday

Nov 28, 2013 at 12:01 AMNov 28, 2013 at 10:00 AM

It came a day later than expected, but the sixth trip to the NHL for Blue Jackets forward Sean Collins was worth the wait.

Shawn Mitchell, The Columbus Dispatch

It came a day later than expected, but the sixth trip to the NHL for Blue Jackets forward Sean Collins was worth the wait.

Collins was recalled from minor-league Springfield on Tuesday after flight delays kept him from joining the Jackets in Toronto on Monday.

He was in an injury-ravaged lineup last night, skating next to former Springfield teammates Michael Chaput and Jack Skille on the fourth line. He was reassigned to Springfield after the game.

"You have to embrace it," Collins said of his frequent two-way trips on the pro hockey escalator. "Everybody wants to be up here and help this team win, but when you're down there, you're trying to make your mark and show the younger guys the way. And it's a lot better to be down there when you're winning."

That hasn't been a problem for the Falcons. Yesterday, they led the American Hockey League with a 13-3-1 record after winning the past six games and eight of nine.

"The goaltending has been phenomenal, and we've gotten contributions from pretty much everyone," said Collins, who has been recalled three times this season. "The winning culture seems like it's there."

Springfield won its division last season but lost its standout goaltender when Curtis McElhinney signed an NHL deal with the Jackets in the offseason.

Mike McKenna (5-2) and Jeremy Smith (8-1-1) replaced McElhinney and have combined for a 2.07 goals-against average and .923 save percentage.

"I don't know if it's (Springfield coach Brad Larsen) or the combination of Lars and the leadership group, but it's been clicking down there," Collins said.

Wait and see

Coach Todd Richards said he was unsure if any of the six injured Blue Jackets players would be healthy enough to play against visiting Edmonton on Friday.

Nashville coach Barry Trotz said he had an opinion about a Washington Post report on Monday in which former Predators player Martin Erat confirmed that he had asked the Washington Capitals to trade him, eight months after he made a similar request to Nashville.

Trotz, however, declined to share his views.

"I'm going to keep them to myself," Trotz said. "When a player decides it's too tough and wants to leave, then it's time to leave.

"Marty was a top player for a long time, and I thought he was a Nashville Predator through and through. That threw me off when he did that last year."